The Frogman Commeth... Or starteth

frogman_reefer · Feb 16, 2016

SB Reef Lights said:
Interesting. Even the large boxes will only pull a little over 1amp each. So the relay trips at 2amp? Are there other components on the same relay, for example a heater? I know running 12 lights over my tank they have to have a dedicated power bar for my reef keeper, if I put them with the skimmers, heaters, or any other components they will trip.

Yes. There were other components on the relay. If I split the relays and put one light on each, it will be ok. But, if I cycle devices such as heaters, skimmers, or even supplimental actinic LEDs, the relay will cycle for no reason.

If I take the light of that particular relay, the problem goes away. If Input both lights in the same relay it happens regardless. Odd!

I'm gonna do more testing and see what it might be

frogman_reefer · Jun 10, 2016

It's been a while since I updated. So here are some growth and color pics.

frogman_reefer · Jun 10, 2016

frogman_reefer · Jun 15, 2016

It's been a sad week [emoji30][emoji24]

Inspecting my tank I found some bad things, Montipora eating Nudibranchs.

Eggs that turned out to be AEFW

And some other type of flatworm I hadn't been able to identify.

So, I stripped my corals piece by piece, inspecting and dipping (following Mike Palleta's (hope I spelled that right, if not Sorry Mike!) process).

I believe fortunately, I caught it early as only corals in a certain section of the reef were infected with the mix. (I treated ALL corals however.

So I setup the 40 gallon breeder and began my battle. I have had some serious losses the first couple days. Almost all acros and monti are out. The only ones left are a few problem pieces that aren't going into the 40 for sake of possible further contamination.

Here are the losses so far:
Oregon Tortusa
Reef Raft Frogman
ASD Unicorn Colony
Bubblegum digi
JF Boston Baked Bean
Strawberry Shortcake Colony (large)
Seaworld Staghorn (bright green polyps)
Paletta Pink Tip
TKC Goldrush
No named acro colony (was turning orange and yellow after a year in my system)
And a orange with yellow polyp Montipora (encrusting like a cap). Not sure of the name.

It's been a sad couple days.

Needless to say, this sucks!

The breeder is a little cloudy because I just finished placing the last few corals in there tonight. I'll do a media change tomorrow and a small series of water changes over the next week until things stabilize in the new setup.

When this is over, I'll be reaching out to my favorite vendors to replenish the ranks. @The Coral Kings and @Reef Pets. Keep an eye out, in 6-8 weeks that is :-)

Reef Pets · Jun 15, 2016

Oh no, that makes me a little sick looking at all the damage from a horrible pest.
I'll certainly set you up with a frag pack on me to help you recover once you're ready.

revhtree · Jun 16, 2016

DANG IT! So sorry bro!

frogman_reefer · Jun 17, 2016

Reef Pets said:
Oh no, that makes me a little sick looking at all the damage from a horrible pest.
I'll certainly set you up with a frag pack on me to help you recover once you're ready.

Me too! I'll keep you in mind when this battle is over. What really stinks was that I was experiencing a tremendous growth spurt and my colors had been awesome!

A majority of the corals losses are on my shoulders however... I reacted too quickly and didn't have a good system in place before I began. So water Chemestry, the dips, the changes in light and flow all had not been very well thought out. So I am extremely frustrated with myself.

But I can't stress enough the reasons for a good quality QT setup! I thought I was VERY careful, but these animals have been around much longer than me and I didn't take into account they know how to hide! Plus, I don't have the eyes of a hawk, so shame on me.

I'm not making that mistake again. I am plumbing a 40 breeder into my current system. It will have 2 55 watt UV sterilizers, 1 in and 1 out. Filter socks will catch the majority of the larger debris and the items that make it past the UV. I'll have a Tx tank setup for fish only where I will run copper meds. That will obviously not be tied into my primary system.

What hurts is some of the colonies that have succumb. Especially my favorite, Oregon tort that was growing very fast considering it's really slow rate of growth. Alas, lessons learned.

frogman_reefer · Jun 17, 2016

revhtree said:
DANG IT! So sorry bro!

Yeah. [emoji26] Thanks Rev. But this is what happens when you ignore the great warnings from people on the forum! QT isn't a good idea, it's a requirement if you want to keep a good reef!